Experimenting…

So after looking at still life and how the composure and post-production can affect how an image is perceived I wanted to experiment with the content. Up until now I have left the fruit in its natural form, letting it rot in the first few shoots but ultimately leaving it unchanged. What could I do the fruit to change how the viewer sees it?

After considering different paths I chose to try dying the fruit – I planned to alter the viewers perception by having fruit in different colours to their usual ones.

Here is one from that shoot;

Dye

 

Alongside this I also planned to create ‘surgical’ scenes, in which the fruit seems to have been injured. I wanted these to look quite horrific and gory – as if taken from a horror movie. I researched different types of wound closures used after surgery and translated this over onto the fruit.

‘Surgical suture is medical device used to hold body tissues together after an injury or surgery. Application generally involves of using a needle with an attached length of thread. A number of different shapes, sizes, and thread materials have been developed over its millennia of history.’

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_suture 

Sewn

‘Surgical staples are specialized staples used in surgery in place of sutures to close skin wounds, connect or remove parts of the bowels or lungs

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_staple 

Staple

 

By using the red food colouring I hoped to create a blood-life effect on the fruit. I found this added to the ‘horror’ side of the image and when asking people what they thought they were often uncomfortable.

I wanted to allude to surgery and the graphic nature of these images has done that. By pairing the mundane fruit with the personal and often upsetting scenes of surgery I have bridged a gap that most people don’t usually consider. It is only when oneself,  a relative or friend is in need of surgery that we take the time to consider the innate fear that is held within us – the thought of dying – and with this comes the uncomfortable truth that ultimately we will all die. This is what I aimed to address and with the help of the fruit I feel I have done that.

Whilst experimenting at home I came across some meat hooks and a pole. I took my fruit and hung each piece from a hook and suspended it from the pole above the chopping board. I did this in reminiscence of a butchers shop. I always remember walking past the local butchers shop and steering my gaze away so I didn’t catch a glimpse of the dead animals hanging in the window. I want my images to have that same effect so connecting the fruit with the thought of a butchers shop and dead animals was a interesting route to take. I thought these images would be good for a vegetarian campaign as it’s very much ‘You wouldn’t do this to fruit so why do it to living creatures?’

Here’s an image from that shoot;

Butchers Shop

 

 

I still wanted to take this further and adjust my images. Instead of shooting again at home I moved my setting into the studio to perfect the lighting and set-up of the images.

In my next post I shall be showing my final sets of images. Thanks for reading!

– A.T

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